Cultivating skills and knowledge for a flexible IoT career

Advancements in technology are making way for the global adoption of IoT. From pill-shaped micro-cameras that can pinpoint thousands of images within the body, to smart sensors that can evaluate crop conditions on a farm, to the smart home devices that are becoming increasingly popular. Faced with this reality, IoT experts can choose which direction they wish to go with their careers. Ranging from agriculture to manufacturing, there is hardly any sector that IoT innovation has not tapped into. Nevertheless, to scale through an IoT career, one should build a strong foundation through proper knowledge and expertise.

The IoT industry is as diverse as it is vital. A career in IoT is quite promising for those who have innovative thinking and creative abilities and are looking for an exciting work environment and professional development. Candidates interested to work in the IoT space are required to have subject matter expertise implementing the configuration and coding tasks required to create and maintain the cloud and edge portions of an IoT solution.

Constructing an IoT ecosystem and designing its tasks is not going to be a hundred percent efficient without the right team equipped with the right tools. With staffing shortages and undertrained IoT professionals, however, the market will face a decline. To combat this, enterprises are seeking candidates qualified with the appropriate skill sets for the job. This has resulted in a boom in opportunities for professionals on the lookout for such positions. Both candidates and employers need to be informed on these indispensable skills like AutoCAD, Node.Js, Big data, development, Security infrastructure, GPS/GIS, Security engineering, Electrical engineering, Circuit design, Microcontroller programming, and Machine learning, to excel in this field.

Certifications necessary to pursue an IoT career

There are plenty of opportunities out there for an IoT enthusiast. One can grow their expertise while pursuing a variety of rewarding courses, ranging from certifications in diverse components of IoT use to diverse disciplines of information systems that can be enhanced with the power of IoT.

• Microsoft Azure IoT Developer certification (AZ-220), designed for developers who implement, code, or maintain cloud and edge IoT components. This certification tests developers’ ability to develop cloud and edge components for Azure IoT products. As cloud is where most of the innovations in IoT happens, this certification is a good mix of cloud and IoT knowledge.
• A Cloud Credential Council IoT Foundation certification that covers principal IoT topics and is vendor-neutral. Coursework focuses on the business aspects of IoT and includes basic IoT technology terms, concepts, adoption, and monetization. The program also explores the role cloud computing and big data play in IoT.
• Arcitura Certified IoT Architect certification, consisting of three courses that cover IoT technology and architecture, radio protocols, and telemetry messaging. The course includes lab exercises and a final exam that must be passed for certification. The content balances technical application and a general understanding of the business value behind IoT.

IoT is offering great opportunities to boost one’s career while drastically changing the way people work. As India is a developing country, it has a wide scope in the field of IoT where there are almost 117,114 job openings. An IoT Developer in India has an average annual salary of Rs 850k which is an attractive package to start a career with. It has been estimated that in the next three to five years, the global workforce can absorb around 149 million new technology-oriented jobs.

To secure a flexible IoT career, candidates need to analyze their skills and determine their operational technology or domain. IoT implementation is always linked to some specific operational technology, domain, or industry. Candidates should also get used to the ecosystem of IT systems and build some basic programming skills of an intermediate level. There are many options in the industry today when it comes to learning a new technology or art but there are few companies that provide hardcore training on IoT with suitable hands-on experience. Professional training can help candidates jump-start their careers with IoT.

IoT is powerful. With wireless 5G connectivity slowly asserting its dominance in the market, the potential and possibilities predicted for these connected devices are endless. For candidates, to excel in their careers, it is crucial to keep upskilling and equip themselves with industry-relevant skills. This can be done through the insights and innovations possible with IoT, and certification programs, and foundation skills they equip themselves with. IoT is a flexible and booming career path. To secure one’s future in the field, candidates need to find the right programs to help them build an impressive portfolio and cultivate their skills so that they can excel in any industry they pursue.

The article has been written by Bhavesh Goswami, CEO, and Founder, CloudThat